Toshiko: Horror Game History
For a while, Toshiko Games had been trying to conceptualize a horror game. This process went through many iterations and it ended up resulting in two games: Fading Springs and game.exe. ''Bing: Deader Than Dead (Platformer) The first ''Toshiko horror game was visualized as a 3-D platform game that served as an homage to video game Creepypastas, similar to how game.exe does now. However, this game would have starred Bing and most likely would have been the first and only M-rated Goop game. It would have featured blood, gore, and other disturbing imagery as Bing journeys through a never-ending nightmare he has been trapped within to defeat a demon named Blair. The gameplay would have been very similar to that of Super Mario 64. ''Bing: Deader Than Dead (Survival-Horror) After the platform game rendition, ''Bing: Deader Than Dead was retooled into a first-person psychological survival-horror, a la Fading Springs or Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It too would have featured Bing, except he was now trapped within a haunted castle possessed by the demon Blair. The game would have featured an Amnesia-like "sanity system" and a total lack of combat. This game would have been followed by a sequel entitled Bing: Even Deader and a DLC campaign entitled Bing: Better Off Dead. ''St. Abraham (Hospital Version) After it was determined that an M-rated ''Goop title might draw controversy, the game was reworked into St. Abraham (currently the name of the mental institution in the town of Fading Springs, OR. The game starred a man named Jason Donovan, who had murdered his family after being possessed by evil spirits one night. The game would take place entirely within the St. Abraham Mental Institution, which was designed and built by architect and cult leader Allister Mayston (who then became Daniel Saunders). Many plot elements, such as the cult-related story, were carried over to Fading Springs. ''St. Abraham (Final Version) It was then decided that having the entire game take place indoors was too limiting and unrealistic to make a hospital that size. It was decided that the game would be more open world and allow Jay Donovan to explore the town of Wither Springs (which later became Fading Springs, OR). The game featured a similar plot to the Hospital version, keeping the story that Jay had been made to kill his family. This game would have been followed by two sequels: ''St. Abraham II: White Mist and St. Abraham III. Also, the third game would have starred Jay's niece, Zoe Donovan (who was remodeled into Holly Brooks). ''Wither Springs'' This version was simply a change of name. No real story elements were changed. ''Fading Springs'' Soon after, the game was retitled to Fading Springs (as well as the town) and the plot was rehauled. Jay is no longer guilty of murder and is journeying to Fading Springs, OR to search for his missing wife. The main antagonist was also renamed Daniel Saunders and his backstory was changed. The backstory of the cult and the town was also expanded, revealing that the town was started during the Gold Rush as a cover for the cult's operations. This is the verson that is in development today. ''game.exe (3-D Platformer) With ''Fading Springs finalized, the concept of a platform game inspired by video game Creepypastas still intrigued Justin Wolfe. He started the process of taking the general concept of Bing: Deader Than Dead (the platform version) and redoing the story and characters. The game was majorly rehauled and featured a shadowy protagonistic figure similar known as Nobody (who later became an enemy) journeying through 100 short levels (called Segments) to defeat a demon known as The Skin Daddy. The game was supposed to emulate haunted video games common in Creepypastas. ''game.exe (2-D Platformer) Due to dissatisfaction with the level design and layout, the ''game.exe concept was reworked into an 8-Bit, sprite-based 2-D platform game, inspired by the NES Godzilla Creepypasta. This version kept the same basic story, but changed the protagonist to Poe and gave the levels better structure and a better curve in terms of surrealty and creepiness. This is the version that is currently in development today. Category:History Category:Toshiko Games Category:Reference Pages